Sanitary couplings are used in applications such as the food processing, dairy, beverage, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries, where fluid lines and couplings must be configured so as to prevent fluid entrapment and minimize opportunities for bacteria to lodge and multiply. This requirement limits the materials, surface finishes, and physical configurations that can be used. Typically, sanitary tubes and fittings are made from rigid metals such as brass and stainless steel, and are polished to a highly smooth finish. Coupling gaskets can be made from metal, or from certain polymers such as Nylon or Teflon.
Common sanitary fluid couplers rely on manual clamps to secure components together, as is illustrated in prior art FIG. 1, commonly referred to as a Tri-Clamp. Conventional Tri-Clamps have an upper and a lower ring section 116 that are connected on a hinged joint so that the clamp assembly 114 can open and close. Two sections of tubing 104, 106, which are to be joined, need to be held together along with an intervening gasket 112 while the clamp 114 is closed over them such that the flanged ends 108, 110 of the tubing are received within slotted groves on the inner diameter of the clamp rings 116. The clamp 114 is then secured by turning a tightening bolt 118 through many revolutions until the necessary clamping pressure is achieved.
There are a number of drawbacks to the conventional Tri-Clamp device as illustrated in FIG. 1. First, the clamp tends to easily fall into a wide open position, making it awkward and time consuming to close the clamp around the tubing sections using just one hand while holding the tubing section together with the other hand. Second, after closing the clamp around the tubing sections, the clamp has to be firmly held in the closed position with one hand while the tightening bolt is maneuvered into position with the other hand and then rotated through many turns to secure the clamp. This process can be time consuming, inefficient and error prone. In typical industrial and commercial settings there can be very large numbers of tubing sections that need to be connected, disconnected and re-arranged on a frequent basis.
What is needed, therefore, is a sanitary fluid system connector which allows for rapid and efficient connection and disconnection of tubing sections.